Uche Ahubelem: Serving Humanity through Empowerment
With penchant for success and achievement through hard work and integrity, General Managing Director, Brickwall Group, Uche Ahubelem, whose investment group cut across a broad spectrum of real estate and other businesses, has empowered thousands of Nigeri
With penchant for success and achievement through hard work and integrity, General Managing Director, Brickwall Group, Uche Ahubelem, whose investment group cut across a broad spectrum of real estate and other businesses, has empowered thousands of Nigerian youths through his non-profit organisation. Ayodeji Ake reports
Committed to building an empire of successful Nigerian youths with business ideas, the General Managing Director of Brickwall Group, Uche Ahubelem, is every bit an entrepreneur, who is passionate about the development of the nation, especially the youth. This passion gave birth to the Uche Ahubelem Centre for Human Development (UACHD), a not for profit organisation, three years ago.
According to Ahubelem, the foundation is aimed at spotting, nurturing and equipping the Nigerian youth with the right resources needed for them to excel in their chosen fields empowering them with grants. It also empowers the youths mentally, by organising seminars and symposiums for personal development. Already, over a thousand Nigerian youths have benefitted from the foundation. Since its inception in 2015, UACHD has successfully launched many remarkable projects such as #4change, Greatness 101, a monthly motivational business digest and Ican. Its flagship and nationally recognised project, Uche Ahubelem Empowerment Seminar Series has made the dreams of many young entrepreneurs come through.
According to him, UACHD, with the belief that national infrastructure without human infrastructure is a waste of resources, has been commit- ted to human development as the surest approach to nation building, enlarging human capacity and raising quintessential leaders, ensuring a better society through various projects for different peer group and socio economic class.
Despite his many suc- cesses and countless awards, Ahubelem, in an interactive session revealed he was not born with a silver spoon despite coming from a good background with strict parents, who were about giving the best to their children.
He said, “I am from a strict family, and my father believes so much in his integrity. I studied maritime management technology but I didn’t choose real estate, it chose me. I just discovered I started I having passion for it, maybe it’s because I have the calling to serve people. We have faced a lot of challenges but now they are experiences.
“Sincerely, I had challenges financially, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, but integrity and hardwork played so many roles. I am highly optimistic and I pursue my goals with all my strength. Truly, at the beginning it wasn’t rosy. We had obstacles coming up like customers not believing in what we can offer. But what has been keeping us is that we believe so much in our business. I say it often, if people don’t believe in you, try and believe in yourself and be the first believer in you. I don’t only want to say its hardwork but I will say it’s God. Because at some point we had challenges that were stronger than us, but with God’s intervention we prevailed.”
Speaking on UACHD assisting programs for Nigerian youths, he said: “The foundation’s interest is that we love to give grants to young entrepreneurs. I noticed people have one business idea or the other but the vision is not there because they lack support. There is nothing wrong with having a business idea, but there is something we call foundation and that’s the vision. It simply means you have a road map to where you are going and you have a driving force propelling you there. We are fond of giving grants to young visionaries. The likes of Tony Elumelu are doing that, but we still feel we can also support the system by giving grants too.